On Monday, New Yorker Magazine published a piece aimed at rehabilitating the reputation of disgraced former Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), who resigned in early 2018 after 8 different women accused him of sexual misconduct or inappropriate touching.
The piece has been widely criticized because of, among other things, what some called the “slut-shaming” nature of how Franken’s first accuser, conservative Leeann Tweeden, was characterized by author Jane Mayer.
Not only that, but Mayer’s seeming newfound respect for due process less than a year after she desperately tried to get an early 1980s Yale classmate of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s to “remember” he allegedly committed a sexual assault against her didn’t go over well with people who remembered the thinly-sourced hit piece.
Nevertheless, Mayer is still persisting on Franken’s supposed innocence, which inspired unhinged left-wing actress Better Midler to weigh in with her own scorching hot takes on both Mayer’s article and Tweeden:
#LeeAnnTweeden, #AlFrankens accuser, in all her right wing glory. Al was forced to resign, without anything resembling due process, amid HER allegations that something “untoward” happened between them. Read about it in @thenewyorker.https://t.co/FFH2VwfseG
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) July 22, 2019
Twitter users let her have it:
"I personally vow to be as gentle as I can be now."
Remember saying this shortly after realizing #Kavanaugh couldn't be stopped?
Now you're posting a pic of @LeeannTweeden in a manner that would've made you furious it was of Dr. Ford, you #hypocritehttps://t.co/J0H9PkNhgM
— (((L.N. Smithee))) (@LNSmithee) July 23, 2019
I didn't realize that #BelieveAllWomen and #MeToo shifted because of the victims politics. Good to know.
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) July 22, 2019
Slut-shaming, Bette?
— Lady L. North (@LadyLNorth) July 23, 2019
I don’t know the veracity of Tweeden’s claims. But the suggestion that being a lingerie model means she can’t be a victim perpetuates rape myth/rape culture/victim blaming kind of thinking. A woman’s profession doesn’t take away her right to give consent prior to sexual contact.
— Boudicca Mic ❄️💙🌊 (@twistedmic24) July 23, 2019
Awards shows need to be rated TV-MA because half of the women have their boobs and asses hanging out. But they're left-wing so its ok? Fuck you.
— Annie_Bannany (@Annie_Bannany) July 23, 2019
Midler of all people should know better than to go the “she asked for it/slut-shaming” route. In December 2017, the same month Franken was battling allegations he had touched women sexually without their consent, Midler stepped forth with her own story about an alleged groping incident in the 1970s involving Geraldo Rivera.
In turn, Rivera said he remembered the incident differently but still apologized to Midler.
I wonder how Midler would have felt if someone posted provocative pictures of her from that time period to insinuate that she either deserved it or her story couldn’t possibly be true?
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— Based in North Carolina, Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter. –
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